Almost as an omen of things to come, my drive did not take three hours, but four. A vehicle fire along the interstate made sure my time was wasted waiting to get past the incident. I passed by a pickup truck that had given up the ghost along the side of the road. Interestingly, the camper it was towing seemed unaffected. Upon arrival I went ahead and put some of my gear out in the usual observing position at the end of the house. The fact that the sky had a nice layer of high thin clouds perturbed me somewhat!
About 1745 hours I used already visible Vega to align the finders (unity and optical) mounted on the 17.5 inch. The sky still looked a little suspicious, but I was willing to give it a chance to clear out. After a bite to eat and a change of clothes adding some layers to fight off the cooling air, I headed out about 1830 hours. Sitting back in my chair and looking around, the sky seemed clear, but it was hardly a thing of beauty. I could barely make out the summer Milky Way band still high in the sky. The glow of lights from town, while always visible was far more pronounced this evening, and the valley seemed to be filled with a haziness that was unexpected. Frankly I was puzzled as to what was going on despite the forecast still showing great conditions. The air was dry, so I did not anticipate a problem with dew, and that turned out to be correct. However, my expectations were no longer high, and in reality, that turned out to be quite correct – unfortunately.
My intent was to do some galaxy farming in Pegasus and Pisces, filling in some gaps in the log book with galaxies either missed or passed over on previous outings over the years. I also wanted to try for a supernova within the galaxy
(Equipment used)
17.5 inch
Ethos 13mm (152x, 0.7° TFOV, 2.9mm exit pupil)
XW 10mm (199x, 0.4° TFOV, 2.2mm exit pupil)
XW 7mm (283x, 0.2° TFOV, 1.6mm exit pupil)
XW 5mm (397x, 0.2° TFOV, 1.1mm exit pupil)
Uranometria All-Sky Edition
SN 2023vyl (Pegasus, supernova in
By the time it was astronomically dark, I could already tell things were a bit funky up there. But I had wanted to give this supernova a shot nonetheless. I aimed the scope at mag 2.5 Alpha Pegasi (Markab) and did my star hopping thing to the northeast. Almost 4.5° from Markab I located the mag 6.7 field star HD 220091. In the same field of view almost 7’ to the star’s WSW I spotted this previously observed galaxy. The rounded disk of the spiral was small and diffuse, and easily seen though not as bright as I expected at mag 12.1. Studying the galaxy at first 152x and then 199x, I had no sense of the supernova’s presence. The core of the galaxy did exhibit a stellar appearance, but I experienced that during a previous observation seven years ago. Dropping in the 7mm Pentax (283x) I was now getting a fleeting suspicion of tiny diamond southwest of the obvious stellar core. I then moved to 397x and confirmed the presence of a stellar pinprick visible within the diffuse glow of the galactic disk at the correct position relative to the core. Despite the conditions my first target was a success! (New)
I used this previously observed object to locate another galaxy. Easily found almost 3° south of Markab, it was a pale reminder of its beautiful self under the prevailing conditions. However, it was visible easily at 152x as a dimmer than usual thick diffuse oval disk. While easily seen, it was noticeably less robust visually than is typical of this bright galaxy.
After a brief look at
I next moved to the southwest of Markab just under 2° where I located this object, sitting between two widely spaced field stars (7th and 9th mag). Picked up using 152x, it was a subtle round disk, small in size. While more apparent at 199x, it remained dim. I noticed it now displayed a broadly brighter core. (New)
Nearly 1.5° SSW of the previous object I located a wide pair of field stars (7th and 8th mag) tipped southeast-northwest. This elliptical forms an isosceles triangle with the two stars, lying about 17’ to their northeast. At 152x I found it a small and dime oval disk that was evenly illuminated. Taking a look at 199x, it now displayed a broadly brighter core and was a little more apparent to the eye. (New)
This galaxy is the brightest member of the compact galaxy group Hickson 96. Its field was located just north of a mag 7.9 field star, just over 8.5° southeast of Markab. At 152x it was merely suspected as a small diffuse dust bunny. Its presence in the field was confirmed at 199x, appearing as a very diffuse round little disk. None of the other members of Hickson 96 were picked up however. (New)
I now moved over into Pisces, about 3° northeast of mag 2.8 Gamma Pegasi (Algenib ). Just northwest of an 8th mag field star I weakly picked up this spiral using 152x. It presented a small, homogeneous thin glow. This was likely just the core area of the galaxy. Using 199x it was more apparent, but still weak and smoothly illuminated. (New)
On the way to the next object I stopped by this one that was previously observed seven years ago. Actually it and the next object were off of opposite ends of a skinny triangle of field stars (6th and 7th mag). Located northwest of the triangle, it was easily seen with 152x, revealing a small and subtly bright oval disk that was evenly illuminated. With 199x it was obvious within the field of view, remaining homogeneous in appearance.
To the southeast of the aforementioned triangle of stars I next picked up this small and dim diffuse oval disk using 152x. It was not difficult, just more subdued than anticipated under the prevailing conditions. Using 199x it was more apparent, and now revealed an intermittent stellar core. I noted a very dim 14th mag field star just off its southeastern edge. (New)
Checking the time, it was after 2000 hours and admittedly I was frustrated. Besides the galaxies I did observe, I had a few that I simply did not pick up in the poor transparency. Under normal conditions the brightness level of the galaxies I was in pursuit of would not be an issue. So I decided to wrap it up by visiting a pair galaxies in Aries that I’ve observed a few times. They would really give me a sense of just how bad conditions were in terms of transparency.
This pair of galaxies is located just under 1.5° ESE of the multiple star Gamma Arietis (Mesarthim).
It was by this time approaching 2030 hours and I simply had enough of the poor sky. I noticed that the Milky Way through Cygnus tried on occasion to become more visible, but it was a poor effort, as the transparency remained in the toilet. So I called it a night, accepting my very modest success and headed in to warm up, have a snack and call Mary, and watch some college basketball.
While sitting in my recliner I checked the conditions yet again and the sites insisted I had very good quality skies – I beg to differ! As I spoke with Mary I told her of my sky woes and mentioned that it looked similarly, though not quite as abysmal, to how the sky was in July when we were here under the impact of the Canadian fires. She asked about the possibility of smoke and that is when the light came on! I checked the smoke forecast, something I had not done previously, and voila!
There is a substantial fire about 52 miles to our south, which at this point is about 3,600 acres. With the winds blowing from the south during the day, that smoke worked its way up to our area. When I checked the Astrospheric smoke layer it displayed a wedge of smokiness in our immediate area – so there was my answer. While the conditions did indeed exist for good transparency and seeing, the added variable of the localized smoke negated that. Unfortunately the site did not take that into account in terms of the forecast. Rather one must specifically go look at the smoke forecast (a separate layer in the application). So while I now understood why things were not as they should have been, it didn’t take away the disappointment. Next time I plan to come over, I will most assuredly check the smoke layer on Astrospheric and the national smoke map to make certain things will be as anticipated! Anyway, we all live and learn. So keeping looking up and hopefully you will not have smoke in your eyes while doing so!
